You're Right, It Does, And You've Drawn The Same Wrong Conclusions From It Again...

Watching the harrowing footage of what would become Yves Sakila’s final moments of consciousness, it is hard not to be reminded of the agonising death of George Floyd.

Had this one too consumed mass quantities of dangerous illegal drugs, then? 

Sakila was declared dead in a Dublin hospital on 15 May, a short time after being pinned to the ground by security guards outside Arnotts, a city centre department store.

Congolese-born Sakila had allegedly been suspected of shoplifting in the store and fled.

Maybe he should have remained in the store to plead his innocence then. 

In these deeply distressing images, the 35-year-old is being restrained by a group of security guards for nearly five minutes. He tries to protest but his shouts are muffled in the concrete when one of the men appears to put his knee on the back of Sakila’s neck. By the end of the video, Sakila has stopped moving.

The cause of death has not yet been established – an initial post-mortem examination reportedly inconclusive. Nor is it likely that the police investigation into claims of excessive force will establish exactly what was going through the minds of those involved.

Probably struggling to subdue a suspect who was trying to escape, no more than that.... Oh, and perhaps thinking about the danger they could have been in!

Yet, this is what I would like to understand. What would compel someone who can see that a person is being forcibly restrained by several men, to kneel on the individual’s neck? Would it have been different if the man suspected of stealing had been white?

No. Because it hasn't made any difference in this case. Securuty guards are there to stop shoplifting, and they will tackle you if you are black, white or sky-blue pink! And if shoplifting is a dangerous pasttime, it doesn't seem to have stopped anyone.

Six years ago we gathered and protested in the streets under Black Lives Matter banners. We were finally addressing the racism in Ireland that was overlooked for so long. Was all that in vain?

Not for the founders of BLM who made out like bandits, Sean!  

As black people in Ireland, it feels as though we are repeatedly asked to sweep such horrific “incidents” under the rug, as though they are isolated tragedies, unconnected to any patterns or larger systemic issues.

Well, they are clearly connected to the criminality that seems to be overly present in the black population. But I feel you wouldn't want to discuss that... 

But even after an event that has drawn international attention, most of the country appears to be in denial. The taoiseach, Micheál Martin, offered his condolences, adding that “the situation will have to be thoroughly investigated” and that “a lot of people are clearly very concerned about what has transpired here”. But showing no willingness to ask if racism may have played a part in Sakila’s handling lets the danger grow.

Because he can see that it clearly didn't.  

There are justified concerns about not prejudicing the investigation. But in a climate where former prime ministers join in the scapegoating of marginalised and often racialised communities for the shortcomings of decades of failed leadership, the lack of a profound debate about systemic racism risks enabling more violent behaviour in the future.

The discussion of 'systemic racism' as a policy is getting a hammering in the UK at the moment, but you do you, Sean.

You're Just Not That Riveting, Clearly

Rosamund Pike confronted an audience member during a performance of Inter Alia at Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End on Saturday. The actor, 47, who won an Olivier award for her role as a crown court judge in the show, blasted an audience member for texting during the climax of the play.

How very dare they not pay attention! 

During the curtain call, Pike pointed out how unacceptable it is for audiences to use their phones, especially during pivotal moments.

If you were any good in the play, maybe they wouldn't? 

A member of the audience said after the performance that Pike seemed “genuinely upset”, the Times reported.

Ah, bless... 

Pike is not the first thespian to criticise audience behaviour in British theatres. Just weeks ago, Cynthia Erivo brought her performance of Dracula to a standstill after noticing an audience member filming on a mobile phone.

Rather like being at school, they punish the entire audience because one member is acting up.

It's Not 'Too Hard' To Reverse Direction, Actually...

Gaby Hinsliff takes the field to defend anti racism training, because of course she does...

The two families have never met but are bonded both in grief and in a desire to avoid what Webber called “political grandstanding”.

The two families referred to being Hanry Nowak's and Barnaby Webber's, victim of Valdo Calocane. United not just by the loss of a family member, but by betrayal of the establishment in dealing with the crime.

There is no way back from this madness without acknowledging hard truths. Calocane was sectioned and discharged four times, and two of his doctors testified that race hadn’t influenced those decisions. But Dr Jonathan Gibson – who saw Calocane four months before the killings, and now believes he should have pushed for his patient to be forcibly medicated – testified that he had been repeatedly told psychiatry was “institutionally racist” and too coercive, especially with young black men, adding that he was “viscerally” aware of the argument and “I do not believe it had no bearing on VC’s care”.

Not do most people. 

If professionals are now questioning their own judgments and assumptions, then that’s healthy and necessary – and I say that as a writer who has had to learn how to do it. But it’s also undeniably difficult, forcing people in already complex, pressured careers such as policing and medicine to work with what can only be described as a bewildering number of mental tabs constantly open – including the idea, expressed in police guidance now being reviewed by government, that fairness isn’t necessarily treating everyone the same.

Give us an ecxample then! 

(Reading a deaf suspect their rights like anyone else is equal treatment, for example, but it’s not fair if they can’t hear you.)

That's clearly the case, because they are physically incapable - so are you saying that black people are physically incapable of obeying the law and refraining from murder!? I can hardly believe it! 

Though a consultant psychiatrist should be capable of exceedingly fine judgments, it’s a big ask of an 18-year-old security guard on minimum wage or a rookie police constable straight out of sixth form. Walking these high wires takes skilled and supportive management, and better diversity training, not less.

Oh, bless them! What sort of 'better diversity training'?  

If any professional has been too squeamish, then the takeaway is that kneejerk assumptions either way are dangerous and need confronting, not that the legacy of the Macpherson report on racism in policing needs dismantling, as Farage is now arguing. The lesson of Henry Nowak’s awful death is not that Stephen Lawrence’s has somehow ceased to matter, but that lessons must be learned from both.

Ding Ding Ding! Lefty Buzzword Bingo in play! 

The Dam Has Broken...

The furore over two-tier policing intensified last night after a supermarket boss accused officers of treating a false claim of racism more seriously than rampant violence by shoplifters.

And I feel he'll not be alone in speaking out.

Iceland founder Sir Malcolm Walker says 'two-tier policing isn't just happening on the streets' as he revealed cops rushed to one of his stores three minutes after a phoney accusation of racism was made against a shop supervisor. The entrepreneur made a formal complaint to Scotland Yard after the Asian supervisor was handcuffed and dragged to a police car by officers who rushed to the scene when a black customer made a complaint of racism after being caught tampering with milk bottles.In contrast, Sir Malcolm said, police often did not attend even when staff had been seriously hurt or threatened with violence by shoplifters.

The gloves are obviously off - once one speaks out, there's no reason for the others to stay silent. Who will speak up for their staff next? 

That Tune's Familiar: Parody Songs

Another song that seems to be popular for parody makers, as the king of parody himself, Weird Al Yankovic, has proved, but as a lifelong 'Trek' fan, I chose this one.

Back To Basics For Westminster...

 

...but just wait for someone to claim 'cultural appopriation', Matt.

Sunday Funnies...

 Only 21? And the robot hummingbird is cool!

Because They Aren't Cooked In Beef Dripping, That's Why!

London leads the way in so many culinary fields. It can’t be beaten for fine dining. We have a sandwich game second to none. And the sushi is so good people have been known to travel from Japan for it. But Achilles had his heel, and we have fish and chips.

Not entirely true, I feel, my local - which provides my regular Friday night supper - is good. I wouldn't use it if it wasn't. But I've had better. On holiday recently, walking the John Muir Way from Dunbar to Belhaven on Bank Holiday Monday (and getting sunburned!) we stopped in at the Brig and Barrel for a meal before heading back to Edinburgh. 

Now, cod is not the usual up there, it's haddock, so I had beer battered haddock, and it was quite different from the occasional haddock I've ordered here just for a change. Probably because it was locally caught and fresh, not frozen. And even the beer that went into the batter was local, from the brewery next door.

The truth of it is, the capital is the worst place in the country to eat our national dish. I should know: I wrote The Standard’s best fish and chip guide. The best in London, sure. But if anyone told me that these were the best fish and chips in Britain, I’d feel as if I’d been slapped round the face with a wet haddock.

Two of my picks for best London chippies, Golden Union in Soho and Seashell of Lisson Grove in Marylebone, were nominated for this year’s National Fish and Chip Awards. Neither were eventual winners though as York’s The Scrap Box was named best takeaway and Trenchers of Whitby won best restaurant.

Both from 'oop North', it should be noted. 

Why are fish and chips in London such a damp squib when the capital excels at every style of cooking under the sun?

He then laboriously tries various suggestions: that cod is tasteless compared to haddock (true, if haddock is fresh), that whatever fish is used, it's not as fresh (sone truth to that!), that it just doesn't taste as good unless it's eaten at the seaside (rubbish! though I'll test that theory if I take a day trip to Rye next month as planned) but he never thinks to question the cooking oil. 

Beef dripping is far preferable! Forget health worries, it just is...

A Blind Pig Finds An Acorn...

Jason Okundaye on the murder of Henry Nowak in the 'Guardian' is the article you would expect from an inveterate race-baiter, full of 'But black people even more so!' bullshit, but there is one interesting observation:

Our leaders have been worse than useless.

 Yep, gotta agree with that, though not for the same reason...

Can none of our political leaders bring themselves to say that two-tier policing is a myth, and inequality and racism is still present in the institution? 

No, they clearly cannot because we all see this incident as a prime example of it, and even Starmer knows that trying to convince voters that up in down and north is south isn;t going to wash this time.

Can none of them say that the life of any person in police custody should be preserved in any circumstance?

That's an impossible ask: all they can do is try, not guarentee. People who have swallowed drugs, people witth undiagnosed medical conditions...police deal with all of these on a daily basis. And that was not the case in this instance, they didn't even try, contrary to their training.

And we've not forgotten what training they have put into practice! 

This is, indeed, the crux of the matter. We have the reciepts, and we aren't going to forget them. No matter how much chaff the establisment throws up in attempts at deflection.

 

People With Disabilities Worst Affected, Says Guess Who...

I used to love a heatwave. I was the sort of British person who acted like I was in the Mediterranean if the sun was slightly visible, coercing friends to take the outside restaurant table and eagerly working in the garden until my MacBook started to overheat rather than my internal organs. That was until I developed post-viral fatigue from the flu nine years ago.

Yup, it's Frances Ryan, the 'Guardian's perennial disability whinger.

Now, the heat means suffering rather than pleasure: less energy, more pain and worse breathing. This has only increased as heatwaves across Europe have soared. I have spent this week of record-high May temperatures in the UK largely in bed, with the blinds drawn and two 5ft-high fans looming over me like security guards at a club no one wants to get into.

How nice for you, the rest of us were at work. Someone has to pay for your benefits, after all. 

And yet there is a fact that many have not yet wrestled with: the millions of homes now enjoying air conditioning don’t house most of the people who really need it.

Well, who do they house? After all, the fact they bought aircon surely shows they do need it? 

While the wealthy and healthy can find tens of thousands of pounds to kit out their houses with built-in AC systems, disabled and chronically ill people – who are disproportionately on low wages or out of work long term – must make do with an Argos fan.

Even the lower-cost portable AC units, which cost hundreds of pounds, are out of reach to many people relying solely on disability benefits. And then there are the swathes of disabled people who rent (if you have a disability, you’re less likely to own your own home) who won’t have the right to upgrade their properties.

🙄  

Every time I see a reel on social media of chronically ill people wearing eye masks in bed during the day because the sunlight physically hurts them, I wonder exactly how many “record hot bank holidays” we plan to put marginalised communities through without support.

Do you have a solution, or just a grievance? 

There is, of course, a short- and long-term way of tackling this, if there was political will. As climate activists reluctantly argued this week, AC needs to be urgently installed as an emergency measure in schools, care homes and other places where people vulnerable to heat live.

Oh, I should have been more specific - do you have an affordable and sustainable olution? 

And yet AC is not sustainable for ever. Its environmental impact means it is as much a cause as a solution to climate breakdown.

It is also fundamental – stop me if you’ve heard this one before – to address the climate crisis that is actually causing our heatwaves, for example through reducing emissions and shifting to renewable energy.

So that’s ’No’ then…. 

I have bought AC for my bedroom that will be ready to use soon. I feel simultaneously guilty and lucky that I can afford it. Unlike millions of others, by the next heatwave, I will have a room to stay safe in.

If only it was soundproof and had nice soft walls…. 

Stoking The Flames....

 

Yes, Reader, that Neil Basu, who never saw a race bandwagon he wasn't happy to leap upon, here opining about others calling out the racist murder of Henry Nowak by a Sikh man obsessed with weapons, whose counter-claim of racism led Hampshire Police to treat the victim as suspect.

An event which brought home to even the most die-hard doubters that there is indeed two-tier policing in the UK, and which, if the weather had stayed hot, would have had unfortunate consequences for Southampton Police Station.

And let’s not forget that we wouldn’t even know as much as we do about this case if not for the pressure brought to bear on it by social media!

So spare me the ‘don’t look back in anger’ left wing commentators urging us to sing kumbayah and not descend into violence lest our cause is tarnished, when we know what they are really worried about is the edifice of multiculturalism falling down around their ears.

Well, That's A Turn-up For The Books..!

Bloody misogynist right-wingers, denying a feminist shibboleth like th...Oh hang on, 'Guardian' letters page? Really?

I write about the recent coverage of the Fordingbridge case (Court of appeal to review rape sentences of three teenage boys, 26 May). I experienced a remarkably similar crime over 20 years ago: same number and age of perpetrators, same incident, same court outcome.

Still, I’m worried by some of the discourse for the girls in question and others who have experienced similar. There have been comments in print and social media which, in attempting to emphasise the severity of the crime, have said things like “their lives are ruined” or “they’ll never heal”.

Yes, that’s been the case for some time, why, when the perpetrators are from an identity group, do you want this not to be the case? 

Now, on the one hand, the impact on my life can hardly be overstated. I’ve struggled to make healthy decisions for myself, had a number of harmful coping mechanisms, and spent many years either feeling numb or creating or fabricating problems in the present because, surely, the pain I’m feeling can’t still be a result of what happened. I’ve allowed people to treat me very poorly and struggled to see it, subconsciously modelling a template that had been set.However, to say that my life is ruined? Hardly. I have many wonderful friendships, a successful career in a field I’m passionate about and I’ve travelled the world.

The girls in the Fordingbridge case – and others in a similar situation – are going to need a lot of support, time and space to feel a lot of things (I would advise them to seek out places and people that provide these, and to give time and space to themselves too), but I hope they can know that there is hope for the lives ahead of them.

Its a measure, I suspect, of how cynical I’ve become, that I firmly believe that we’re the perpetrators of this crime white men of Christian Anglo Saxon heritage, not only would we not be seeing members of the lanyard classes writing in to the ‘Guardian’ about it in this fashion, they wouldn’t be published if they did!

The Dropping Of Charges Is Almost In The Bag...

A teenager accused of staging a bomb hoax which forced a Peter Kay comedy show to be evacuated had to be removed from court after he started stripping down in front of the judge. The hearing for Omar Majed, 19, who appeared at Birmingham Crown Court via video-link from HMP Brinsford, was cut short after prison officers removed the defendant from the room when he started to take off his prison-issue grey tracksuit bottoms.

Yes, it's him again. 

Judge Andrew Smith KC was trying to address the defendant, who was not arraigned during the hearing due to the need for psychiatric reports, to let him know when he next needed to appear.

Or 'if' should he keep this up until the CPS gets cold feet.

A further case management hearing for Majed, of Saltley, Birmingham, who was charged with communicating false information to police contrary to the Criminal Law Act, was set for July 27 and a provisional date for a trial, lasting two weeks, was scheduled for November 3.

Once again, I'm forced to note no year is mentioned... 

'How Very DARE You, It's For Charity, Don'tchaknow?'

Two charity hikers who skipped queues to reach the summit of Yr Wyddfa have spoken of their anger at being booed.

Not their shame, no, of course not! Their unjustified anger. 

Jamie Richardson, 32, and Richard Thiedeman, 34, avoided "Alton Towers-like" queues as they hiked different routes up the mountain on Sunday and were met with jeers from those waiting as they tapped the trig point to complete a charity challenge.

And they claimed they had no clue why they might have got that reaction,  of course. And I believe them, they seem to suggest that because they were doing it for charity they were entitled to skip the queue!

Richardson said: "There's no policing of it at all, it is purely free will, if you want to queue you can."

Yes, and people did, because it's the polite thing to do. But not you, because you’re special….. 

Thiedeman said: "Knowing what I've just been through with the other two mountains, I was really exhausted. 

"I just needed to get it over with, I'm in the sun, I'm getting sunburned. I just need to tap [the trig point] and leave."

Like, I suspect, the majority of the people queuing, who still have manners and a sense of social responsibility and not simply a charidee T-shirt and an overweening sense of your own self importance.

Richardson experienced another hiker trying to physically stop him from reaching the trig point. "I'm up to the third mountain, I'm physically exhausted, it was 20 odd degrees. No shade or anything," he said. "I was physically struggling. I wanted to just go up and touch the summit and get myself down. "I was getting booed and then there was a gentleman who was at the top, who had just had his photo taken and he physically tried to stop me." He added he had just touched the summit point and heard someone say "you should be ashamed of yourself".

A waste of breath, these kids are incapable of it… 

Thiedeman continued: "If you've got nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all. 

"Instead they were trying to belittle the attempts of people they don't even know. 

They know all they need to know about you-that you don’t feel society’s unwritten rules for cohesion apply to you. 

"When I'm wearing a T-shirt that you can see what this person's hiking for... surely anybody at the summit of a mountain deserves a cheer and a well done? 

"I was coming up feeling proud and then I'm being booed, so now I'm really angry and I'm not focused on being proud. 

Awww, poor baby! 

"Whatever anybody's belief or approach is, you don't boo somebody else because they don't have the same approach."

"The queuing, that is just purely down to British culture traditions. "A bit more encouragement in the world would go a little bit further, rather than trying to put people down."

You see, you won’t be able to understand this, but we really value those cultural traditions, and we want to keep them. It’s bad enough we are importing people who don’t and never will, share them, but to see you come along and scorn them, well, you’re lucky all you got was booed! 

At Last, A Magistrate With Some Balls....

...so of course, they censure him:

A magistrate has been given a formal warning after suggesting he would give a 'good hiding' to a defendant who was shouting about being jailed. Paul Gibson, a former magistrate on the South-East Essex bench, admitted he 'let himself down badly' when he lost his composure during a 'difficult and stressful hearing'. He has now been issued with a sanction of formal advice for misconduct following an investigation.

Ridiculous! 

Mr Gibson said he had 'allowed himself to be provoked by the defendant', who had shouted abuse at him and his fellow magistrates from the dock. The defendant had also started filming proceedings on their phone - an offence for which an individual can be found in contempt of court.

Then find him in contempt! 

Senior judge Mr Justice Keehan and Lord Chancellor David Lammy agreed on the sanction for misconduct.

Of course they did… 🙄

It has not disclosed the court at which the exchange happened, nor the name of the defendant or the nature of the offence for which they were sentenced.

I wonder why? 

No Amount Of Youth Clubs Will Make A Difference

The father of murdered teenage footballer Kiyan Prince set out a new vision for young Londoners on the 20th anniversary of his son’s death.

It might be new to him, but it won’t surprise most people! It is of course ‘more youth clubs’ as if the knife-wending street vermin would be only too happy to give up eternal  feuding over their ends if only they had the chance of a game of snooker in a rickety hall selling curly sandwiches and warn bottle of ginger beer.

Dr Prince dedicated his life to steering young people away from knife crime since Kiyan, 15, was fatally stabbed trying to break up a fight outside his Edgware school on May 18, 2006. The Kiyan Prince Foundation - set up in honour of the tragic Queens Park Rangers youth team player – today launches a campaign, The Champions’ Club, calling for more investment into youth services to help them succeed.It includes an ambition to raise £400,000 so that the charity can fund a new space for youngsters dedicated to Kiyan’s legacy.

No amount of this pandering will reach the demographic responsible for these type of murders.

Dr Prince has also created a 20-point blueprint to improve the lives of Gen Z – one for every year since the teenager’s death. It sets out 10 asks of policymakers – including better pay and recognition for youth workers, more long-term focus and greater prominence for community voices.

No point in that if they aren’t listened to and they aren’t. 

The other 10 recommendations are for young people themselves, and include prioritising physical exercise, developing critical thinking skills and volunteering for local organisations.

The government isn’t interested in anyone developing those, least they start realising uncomfortable realities .

I Was Considering Buying An Apple Watch Too....

...because I have become fed up with my Radley watch deciding not to charge up and I have a cash reward for completing 40 years service to spend. So I was already looking at Apple, since it'll seemlessly blend with all the other Apple products I have. And I have in facy now ordered one. Then I saw this:

Two men who filmed themselves speeding at 139mph in a 30mph zone while inhaling from balloons before crashing and killing the driver of another car have been sentenced to a total of 23 years in jail. 

Uways Hussain, 20, and Usmon Mahmood, 23, had spent the night driving dangerously through Manchester before colliding with a vehicle being driven by Sylvester Abayomi.

Just more 'driving while ethnic' on Britain's streets, entirely unhindered  by traffic cops...

Rachel Shenton, prosecuting, said the Golf had been driven 'at speed' through the light and Mahmood had 'chanted encouragement' to Hussain as he drove. Immediately after the collision, Greater Manchester Police received an alert from Hussain's Apple watch which detected he had been involved in a collision.

Wow! I didn't know that was a feature. A watch that alerts the cops you've crashed! No wonder they are all seemingly incompetent and lazy these days, tech is doing their job for them!

Today they were jailed at Manchester Crown Court after pleading guilty to the charges against them.

Greater Manchester Police received several emergency calls to the crash and the automatic alert from the Apple watch.

The judge was pretty harsh, considering the race of the defendants and the location: 

The judge described the video footage as 'terrifying' and said Hussain had shown a 'flagrant disregard for the safety of other road users' and undertaken 'deliberate risk-taking seemingly for the thrill of it'.The pair had not attempted to assist the victim, he said, but had fled the scene following the crash and Mr Abayomi was killed by 'conduct that was appalling and entirely avoidable'.

But not when it came to their driving: 

He also handed both men an eight-year driving ban.

It should have been a lifetime ban. 

But It's No Longer Serving The Needs Of The Audience, That's Why It's Failing

New BBC director general Matt Brittin has told staff the BBC "has never been more needed" but that "tough choices are unavoidable as we make savings".

What do we need it for, that other broadcasters cannot provide, exactly? 

In an email to staff, Brittin said: "The BBC has proved throughout its history how quickly it can reinvent itself to serve the needs of audiences - from restructuring for World War II to repurposing during Covid to spinning up services in conflict zones. We need, collectively, to call on that sense of urgency now."

The BBC has never served its audience because that’s not who it’s geared to and on which it has no need to depend for its cash flow. Just like the NHS. 

"I know change will not be easy. Tough choices are unavoidable as we make savings. We should ask ourselves, honestly: if we were inventing the BBC today, what would we do? Then respond with clarity, pace and purpose."

Well, as the old joke goes, I wouldn't start from here! And I agree with Longrider - no one should be forced to pay for a license simply for possessing a tv. Move with the times, move to a subscription model. Then we will see what people truly rhink you are worth...

What A Surprise, Said No-one….

A mother has told a court that she thought her daughter was going to die after she was attacked by a retired police officer’s two rottweilers

.Aha, this case! 

Nigel Gray’s dogs, Indiana and Dakota, ‘tossed the girl around like a toy’ during the incident in Raphael Park, East London.

As we saw from social media, it wasn’t a first attack. 

The attack was the second in two years involving the 63-year-old’s pets, but he was not banned from keeping dogs in the future and he was handed a suspended prison sentence.The elderly victim of the first of Gray’s dogs’ attacks – who had to have his dog put down as a result – called the sentence a ‘joke’.

An elderly man loses his pet and police are not interested and so a child is almost killed. He might be retired but the other cops days should be numbered! 

Gray was not banned from keeping dogs in the future, but the court heard he had already agreed to the two rottweilers being destroyed.

Cant help feeling that was an easy cop-out for him, and now he’s free as a bird to get another mutt and use it as a weapon! 

'Guardian' Puzzled By Recurring Phenomenon...

 

Because it's summer, you loons! 

Sunday Funnies...

 This'll make you feel old! 

Tweet of the Month - Special Election Edition

 These were so good they deserved their own category! 

Tweet Of The Month

Post Title Of The Month

From the blog for all retail workers, Not Always Right, comes this little gem about one of the oldest tricks in the book: 

Quote Of The Month

 Perry at 'Samizdata' on the slow dawning of reality that you're on the wrong side of history:

"But then in late July for an entire week, the RAF and USAAF filled the sky over Hamburg by day and by night. And although Hannelore did not know it at the time, it was called Operation Gomorrah. She told me that on one night in particular, her father called the whole family outside. It was bright as day, the entire skyline to the south a line of incandescent light. By morning, white dust entirely covered their home and farmland, with a constant rain of ash still falling from the sky. 40,000 people had burned to death in a firestorm in a single day in Hamburg. And only then, our friend’s grandmother said, did they finally realise everything was not going to be alright and the war had been a catastrophic mistake. Only then, and from then onwards, did everything they read in the newspapers or heard on the radio ring hollow."

Post Of The Month

 David Thompson on the doomed struggle for artistic purity.

Suspicious Timing...

I later heard from his campaign team that Bamber had not received the letter because HMP Wakefield had banned him from receiving mail and email from journalists.

However, the campaign team said he was not allowed to email a response saying how much he liked the tree because he had also been banned from sending letters and emails to journalists. The campaign group says he is now banned from all forms of correspondence with the media.

Bamber has been writing to journalists since he was jailed in 1985. This is how we have learned about many of the inconsistencies, errors and failings in the initial investigation that make many of us believe his conviction is unsafe at the very least. It’s also how we’ve learned about crucial evidence that has been destroyed in the intervening years. So why would HMP Wakefield stop him now?

Because they can - the Labour Party troubles are good cover after all. 

It’s hard to believe that it is unconnected to the coverage his case has received over the past couple of years.

Yes, it is.  

This month the Sun ran an interview with Michael O’Brien, one of three men wrongly convicted of the 1987 killing of Cardiff newsagent Phillip Saunders, who spent time in jail with Bamber and is convinced he is innocent. O’Brien became a seminal figure in ensuring that prisoners who claimed they were wrongfully convicted had access to the media to make their case. A number of high-profile convictions have been overturned at the court of appeal in recent years. In 2023, Andrew Malkinson was cleared after spending 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit. In 2025, Peter Sullivan had his murder conviction quashed after spending 38 years in prison, which is believed to be the UK’s longest wrongful imprisonment. Not surprisingly, these wrongful convictions have led journalists to focus on other potential miscarriages of justice.

When you’re digging for gold and find some, naturally you keep digging! 

The most high profile of these cases are Bamber and Lucy Letby, who was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others. If either of these convictions were to be overturned, it would cast a huge shadow over whether the British justice system is fit for purpose.

There already is a huge shadow over it. It was cast by Michael O’Brien.  

Without giving the Guardian a specific explanation for the decision in Bamber’s case, the Prison Service said it does not issue blanket bans and cited “the need to protect victims from serious distress and maintain confidence in the justice system” as the basis for restrictions on communication. But the Simms and O’Brien ruling states that limitations on communications that are considered “necessary” and “proportionate” to protect the rights of others, including victims, must be justified individually. In Bamber’s case we have seen no such justification.

And you will not see any. Because there isn’t one they could admit to. 

Sunday Funnies...

 I for one would have loved to see No7 come true! 

Blog Hiatus

 Posts will be light to non-existent here and at 'Orphans' for the next few days, as I’m on holiday in beautiful Edinburgh. 

Normal service will resume when I’m back in grimy London.

The People To Whom Those Funds Belonged Thought So...

...ro your objections count for naught!

Timmy the whale is lost at sea, presumed dead. In normal circumstances, the loss of a young humpback whale would be a sad yet unremarkable part of the circle of life. Dead whales help sustain thousands of marine species – and are part of the global carbon cycle.

Yes, they provide much needed food for hideous slimy bottom-feeders, and this case has done much the same in providing publicity opportunities for their two-legged counterparts on land 

Amy Dickham, a professor of wildlife conservation at the University of Oxford, says there are many lessons to reflect on from the case. “It’s really striking that there’s been such a focus on this individual animal at such great cost during a time of great crisis for wildlife funding around the world,” she told me. “It is really questionable whether it was a good use of funds, particularly compared with issues that impact much greater numbers of whales, such as collisions with vessels and entanglements with fishing gear.”

Who are you to question that? It's not your money, and you have no say over how these people want to spend it, which it the real issue, isn't it?  Even more, I suspect, than the danger that the 'experts' might be proved wrong.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare said that the rescue for Timmy should “give us all pause”, highlighting it as an example of the challenges of social media.There’s a huge pressure to move rapidly and that doesn’t necessarily give experts the time to carefully consider what the best course of action should be, including things such as euthanasia, which might not be popular with the public but might be the best course of action for the animal’s welfare.”

Given what we know about what 'experts' choose to spend the money they are given on, I'll side with social media on this issue.

I Shouldn't Worry...

Some lifts could now be unsafe as manufacturers have failed to adjust their stated capacities in line with soaring obesity rates, experts warn.

I’ve yet to be in a lift where the sign has any bearing on reality! 

Elevators are required to display signs showing the maximum number of people they can carry but these have not been updated for over two decades. It means they are increasingly at risk of being overloaded even when they are transporting the number of passengers they have supposedly been built for, a conference heard.

Manufacturers' assumption that each person fills a floor area shaped like a small oval is also outdated as bulging waistlines mean many are now big and round, he added.

The lifts in my building claim 24 as maximum capacity, but even for normal sized people, that could realistically only be achieved by several of us sitting on the shoulders of others! Why is it a subject of concern for a conference, anyway?

'What's more, suggesting more people can fit in a lift than is comfortable is stigmatising people living with obesity.' 

*sigh* I might have known…bet they didn’t serve carrot sticks and water for lunch at this conference!

A New Low For The Police...

Vikrum Digwa is on trial at Southampton Crown Court charged with the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, from Chafford Hundred, in Belmont Road, Southampton, on December 3 2025. The 23-year-old is also charged with carrying a knife in public and his mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, is accused of assisting an offender by removing a weapon from the murder scene.

Another day, another life lost to the fetishisation of 'enrichment' 

Nicholas Lobbenberg KC, prosecuting, told the jury the accountancy and finance student was sending Snapchat videos to friends as he was walking home from a night out with his football team when the fatal incident happened. He said former Harris Academy Chafford Hundred pupil Mr Nowak had drunk less than the drink-drive limit during the evening.

Interesting phrasing. If he's prosecuting a rape does he feel the need to emphasise how the victim's skirt was of regulation length?   

“His phone captures the moment he met Vikrum Digwa,” Mr Lobbenberg said. “Vikrum Digwa was carrying an extremely large knife in a sheath openly displayed over his clothing.

Ah. but he's a Sikh, and so allowed to carry a decorative knife, right? Yes, Reader and he was, but the murder weapon wasn't this... 

The prosecutor said as well as the shastar – the Punjabi word for weapon or knife – which had a 21cm blade, Digwa had a kirpan knife around his neck and under his clothing.

“After he had been stabbed, Henry climbed on to a bin and over a fence to try and escape but he had already been fatally wounded and there was a blood trail on the street which demonstrates that he must have been stabbed before he climbed on to the bin and over the fence. 

“Vikrum Digwa chose to aggressively pursue him.”

To kill him, or rob him? He did after all do both. 

The prosecutor said a video of the incident was found on Mr Nowak’s phone which was discovered in Digwa’s pocket.

Mr Lobbenberg said the defendant’s father and brother were at the scene shortly afterwards along with his mother, who was captured on video footage taking the knife back to their family home in nearby St Denys Road where it was later found by police.

 Cunning enough to remove the murder weapon, not smart enough to destroy it. 

The prosecutor said Digwa denied at the scene stabbing Mr Nowak and added: “Vikrum Digwa said he had been racially abused and attacked by a drunken man. Henry protested he hadn’t attacked Vikrum Digwa and he had been stabbed.” Mr Lobbenberg said: “He didn’t seek help for the man he had injured with his sizeable knife, instead he accused him of being a racist and being drunk.” 

He added that police initially handcuffed Mr Nowak and started giving him first aid when he then collapsed.

Oh but Ambush, I hear you say, the police didn't know at that point that he'd been stabbed, give them a break, maybe the wounds weren;t visible? Well, the blood certainly was, and some wounds were in the front, not the back as he tried to flee:

Mr Lobbenberg said a post-mortem examination found Mr Nowak suffered four stab wounds and a cut to his jaw, with two of the wounds to the back of his legs.

But for those cops, the magic words had been spoken, so they will be expecting to fear no consequences for handcuffing a dying murder victim. Henry, you see, is white.  

The consequences of public disgust will be felt by other cops, when they need the public's help with something, after all...

Not Letting This Mutt Have It's 'One Bite'...

A dog has died after being attacked by a Staffordshire bull terrier.

The incident took place on a footpath near Nightingale Road in Pakefield between 2.25pm and 2.55pm on April 8.

I'd imagine owners believe at that time they will be safe to walk their pet without coming into contact with dangerous mutts but not on this occasion.

The Staffy, which was on a lead, bit a cockapoo, also on a lead, when it was being walked along the footpath near the beach.

Officers are asking anyone with any information to contact Suffolk Constabulary quoting the crime reference 37/20460/26.

Odd that the police are taking it seriously, when they usually do all they can to swerve dog-on-dog attacks, but enlightement, as ever, comes from social media below. 

To the comments, where the usual defenders of vicious breeds show up: 

And to Facebook, where the police reaction is somewhat explained by the behaviour of the mutt's owner and the fact it's the THIRD such incident: 

I hope they catch him. Amd shoot his weapon dog in front of him.

H/T: Dave Ward via email

Many A True Word...

 

...illustrated in cartoon form by Matt.

Sunday Funnies...

 Given the title, I half expected David Lammy to make an appearance....

Seems A Strange Decision For An Unpopular PM Who Faces 'Two Tier' Claims...

Prosecutors have vowed to get tough on protesters who spew hate ahead of an unprecedented £4.5million policing operation to deal with rival rallies on Sunday.

Sunday, Mail? It's today, isn't it?  

And everything they say underlines the attitude of the establishent that there's only one concern, despite there being two marches. 

Keir Starmer warned on Saturday of a 'fight for the soul of this country' after the head of the Crown Prosecution Service announced a new hardline stance against those inciting hatred at protests.

Man without a soul (or personality!) is not best qualified to pontificate about it, surely?  

Britain's biggest force is preparing to use armoured vehicles for the first time in a decade as it deploys 4,000 officers to tackle a series of protests on Sunday, including a Unite The Kingdom rally led by far-Right activist Tommy Robinson and a pro-Palestine demo to mark Nakba Day.

Visiting the Metropolitan Police's Command and Control Special Operations Room yesterday, the Prime Minister outlined a 'ramped-up justice system' ready to quickly haul violent offenders in front of judges, saying: 'We're in a fight for the soul of this country, and the Unite The Kingdom march is a stark reminder of exactly what we are up against.'Its organisers are peddling hatred and division, plain and simple.

 And what, peay tell, is the other march peddling? Its not kittens and rainbows, is it? 

Arabic for 'catastrophe', Nakba refers to the displacement of Palestinians in 1948 for the founding of Israel.

Kier has nailed his colours to the mast - this is what he stands for. Not the historic right of the people of Britain to march in support of a cause, but the right of foreign-born 'citizens' and their handmaidens in the lanyard classes to march in support of the overthrow of a foreign country

Eleven foreign far-Right agitators have been blocked from entering the country.

Meanwhile, third worlders come in on boats every day, and who knows who they are or what they stand for? 

You're Answering A Question No-one's Asking

 

The quetion isn't what would they do, it's what would they be and the answer's that they wouldn't be Starmer. And for a lot of people, although they may dress it up for quotes, that's enough. It certainly is for me. Principally, it's punishment. For Southport, the Chagos Islands, Two Tier policing, etc.

Well, You've Only Yourselves To Blame...

Broadcasters must urgently adapt to an existential threat from “creator journalism” that is causing audiences to shun traditional television news, the former boss of BBC News has said.

Because they are more immediate and trustworthy than the MSM?

Deborah Turness, who resigned from the BBC alongside the then director general, Tim Davie, last year, said consumption was “collapsing” for traditional television news, which was facing “a profound moment of disruption”.

She said that a new habit of following personality-led journalism on digital platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Substack was now in the process of replacing traditional news.

Least anyone forget why this useless creature is no longer employed by the BBC: 

In her first intervention since stepping down from the BBC after the corporation’s edit of a Donald Trump speech...

If you're goung to follw someone making up the news, it might as well be the guy down the road. He's less likely to be a nonce, after all... 

They Should Never Have Been Given This Power!

Little Rowan Antolovi, who has a rare genetic eye disorder, is struggling to manage in the classroom because of his failing eyesight. But when his concerned NHS hospital consultant referred him for urgent assistance to help him cope, he was turned away when the local council found out he went to a private day school.

This is of course in Scotland, where gesture politics override even safety concerns, but who gave a local council the power to refuse service on the NHS in the first place?  Weren't we subjected to endless sneering on social media last week at Reform's policy on the NHS, and assured that local council elections had no bearing on it!?

Now Rowan's furious mother Virginia Osborne has accused them of discriminating against a little boy who needs help because 'of a decision we made as parents about where to educate him'. 

'We are not rich. We are an ordinary working family as are most at his school. We have saved money for the government by sending our child to a private school.' 

'As a result of our choice we are now precluded from accessing council provision for children even though we have also paid all of our taxes which pay for those services.'

Many funding decisions of local councils seem power-crazed or shortsighted - this is one that seems truly evil! 

 

DEI Kills...

Paramedic Colleen Gibson, who was the first emergency responder to arrive on the scene, is also said to have failed to tell police and fire crews who arrived shortly after her that Saffron Cole-Nottage was within a crucial 30-minute time period when her life might still be saved.

Giving evidence today, Ms Gibson said she had been involved with four previous water incidents before Ms Cole-Nottage's but she hadn't been trained to take command of a multi-agency emergency.

And clearly, unless you are training people to do something, or better yet, recruiting those of that persuasion, you can’t expect them to step up and do it when needed 

The two-week inquest into the death of Ms Cole-Nottage has already heard how a 999 operator didn't establish the mother-of-six was at risk of drowning due to the incoming tide until seven minutes into a call with the teenager who raised the alarm.

The emergency services are always telling us how ‘every second counts’ but when it comes down to the crunch, you’re at the mercy of people unable to act as if it really does. 

Police bodycam footage showed officers who arrived shortly afterwards asking Ms Gibson if anything could be done to save Ms Cole-Nottage and she replied: 'No.'

Why did she say that? Well, that’s a very good question to which the answer was…

Questioned by inquest counsel Bridget Dolan KC about why she didn't tell emergency services colleagues that the opportunity to save the patient's life potentially extended for another 10 minutes, she said: 'I don't know.'

Imagine that - knowing where she is and that she’s giving evidence in an inquest, she couldn’t even come up with a plausible reason! This is not someone who fears for her future job, it seems...

When Ms Dolan told her police 'said that if they'd been told a rescue was possible they would have tried', she added: 'I don't believe that to be safe. I wouldn't be able to reach down into the rocks head-first with the water.' Ms Dolan replied: 'Nobody is saying you should have tried. The police have said if they knew there was a possibility of rescuing Saffron they would have tried.'

You can almost imagine the frustration in her voice, can’t you? How did someone get to be a paramedic while being so clueless and hapless?

Expert witness Matthew England, a nurse and paramedic who sits on a group that advises the Home Office about emergency services working together on incidents, said Ms Gibson should have taken command of the scene as the first responder there. She should also have communicated with Coastguard, police and firefighters there but it 'did not appear very coordinated in terms of what was going on', he added.

You don't say!? And it's not just the on-scene responders who failed:

The 999 call was placed at 7.52pm but it was not until 7.59pm that the call handler established how quickly the tide was coming in. Christopher Strutt, a call handler team leader, told the inquest the fire service should have been contacted by the ambulance service within seconds when it was known that someone's head was trapped. But he said controllers had to go through an algorithm, asking questions prompted by their computer, and were discouraged from raising their own queries until the list was completed. The revelation prompted coroner Darren Stewart to suggest the 'rather clunky' system had contributed to a 'muddled response'.

God forbid anyone uses their own initiative!  

Now. there's often a fair amount of 'Monday morning quarterbacking' anout inquests, it's true. But sometimes, they throw a harsh light on policies and procedures that hamper, and not help. Although this one hasn't concluded yet, I'd  venure to suggest it already has done so, and not to modern Britain's benefit.

Arrogance...Or Playing The Mental Health Card?

A man charged with false communications over an alleged bomb hoax at a Peter Kay show has been removed from court after repeatedly talking during a hearing on Monday. Omar Majed, 19, was ordered to go down to the cells part-way through an 11-minute proceeding at Birmingham Magistrates' Court.

Could go either way, frankly, these days. 

Majed, of Saltley, Birmingham, was charged with allegedly making false communications that a bomb was present in the arena.

And he continued his disruption tactics into court. 

After confirming his address and date of birth at the start of the hearing, Majed was repeatedly asked to be quiet by District Judge Michelle Smith, who was appearing in court via a video-link. District Judge Smith also made several requests for Majed to sit down.

Eh? The judges are now appearing by video link as well as the accused?!  

After Majed shouted that proposed bail conditions for him were "not acceptable", he was taken down to the cells before the end of the hearing. He did not make a plea to the single charge of communicating false information to police and was refused bail.

The judge said she was "satisfied that the case should be dealt with in the crown court" in June.

Did she say which June?  

Thing Fall Apart, The Centre Cannot Hold....

That they do, Yeats, that they do...

A Green councillor in Hackney has quit within days of winning his seat because he was voted in against electoral rules.James Tilden was elected to represent Hackney Central ward with 1,681 votes following the council elections last Thursday (May 7), but his party failed to realise this breached electoral law before making him their official candidate.As a primary school teacher in the one of the borough's community schools, Mr Tilden is legally an employee of Hackney Council. Under Section 80 of the Local Government Act 1972, teachers cannot become a member of a local authority if they are employed by or their job is confirmed by the same local authority.

Meanwhile:

Scotland Yard has been urged by the Tories to investigate Zack Polanski after he admitted he failed to pay council tax while living on a houseboat in east London. The Green Party leader was branded a 'hypocrite' after he apologised on Monday for the 'unintentional mistake' and said he had 'immediately taken steps to pay any council tax' owed. The Conservatives and Labour have both referred Mr Polanski, who is a member of the London Assembly, to the City Hall sleaze watchdog over his council tax arrangements.

Are we uniquely blessed in this country with hapless politicians? What happened to the apparatus of state and local government that’s paid well to oversee the process and stop this sort of thing happening?

Mind you, with the current incumbent of No 10 clinging on like a limpet despite everything, are the Greens really the worst of a bad bunch?

Gosh, Sounds Fun And Not At All Pretentious!

This year’s Venice Biennale has been tearing itself apart for months: countries not showing up, artists getting fired, exhibitions being cancelled, funding getting pulled. There were petitions and protests months before a painting was on a wall. The jury quit in the days leading up to the opening, then Iran quit, then the European Commission quit. There were protests against Israel and Russia during the preview, artists went on strike and artworks were replaced with installations of Palestinian flags. The whole thing was a massive mess of conflicting politics, personal tragedy and unresolvable ideological differences from the very beginning.

And all this without even mentioning that the curator, Koyo Kouoh, died last year and wasn’t able to see her artistic vision through to completion.

And presumably is now rolling in her grave at what's on offer/ 

Kouoh’s idea for her biennale was to chuck aside the ire and invective of outright political art, and focus on quiet, contemplation and healing.

And how, you may ask Reader, is that expressed? As you would expect, considering the source...

A gathering of glazed creatures by Peruvian artist Celia Vásquez Yui transforms another gallery into a little slice of jungle. Among the endless, anonymous abstractions, there are a bunch of great paintings. Mohammed Z Rahman’s tiny images on matchboxes of shells, flowers, condoms, knobs and skulls are excellent depictions of queer heartbreak. Tammy Nguyen uses her huge, complex canvases to expose links between the cold war and Vietnam. Wardha Shabbir takes the tradition of Pakistani miniature painting and blows it up to maximal scale, resulting in some head-spinningly gorgeous paintings of flowers and foliage.

Well, the glazed animals are cute, looking as they do like garden ornaments from the 'Past Times' catalogue...but it can't last!

The Denmark pavilion is a hi-tech sperm bank, Luxembourg’s features a singing turd, Japan’s forces visitors to look after fake babies. There’s a lifesize chocolate Russell Crowe in the Malta pavilion

And then there's the Austria pavilion...don't ask what's in that, for your sanity's sake

It’s brilliantly obscene and vile.

Ah, art. 

The Likeliest Story In A History Of Likely Stories...

A Ukrainian man has admitted setting fire to a car that once belonged to Keir Starmer for £3,000, after telling a court he had been being threatened by a “powerful” Russian-speaking man using the pseudonym El Money.

The Russians were behind it all!

Asked by James Scobie KC, defending, what made him conclude that he meant business, he said: “He told me he is a high-profile person. Maybe he had some connections, maybe he is connected to politics. He said he is like a person with a high status. He just told me he is a person in power.”

So powerful he wasn't up to date on the car ownership. If a thriller writer offered this as a screenplay it'd be laughed out of the Green Room.

The trial continues.

The farce continues, more accurately. 

The Experts Can't Stand To Be Wrong And Worse, Unneeded...

Marine biologists and whale experts have stepped up their criticism of a privately funded operation to release a humpback whale that was stranded for weeks off Germany’s Baltic coast...

They never stopped, from the forst moment it looked as if their advise was going to be ignored. 

... after it emerged that a tracker fitted to the whale was not working.

Seems a strange thing to be so concerned about... 

The whereabouts and health of the young male whale – nicknamed Timmy after one of the sandbanks it was stranded on – remain unknown three days after it was transported in a water-holding barge pulled by a tugboat to waters off the coast of Denmark.

A rescue that the experts all deperately wanted to see fail, bevause fot it to succeed would prove them wrong. 

The rescue initiative, estimated to have cost about €1.5m, was funded in part by Karin Walter-Mommert, the owner of one of the largest racehorse portfolios in Europe.

The whale was first spotted stuck on a sandbank on 23 March near the city of Lübeck, on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast, before freeing itself and then becoming stuck again several times.

The environment minister for Germany’s Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state gave the green light for the attempt to save the whale, despite some warnings from the scientific community that it may be too much for the animal.

...whale researcher Fabian Ritter told German media... that if it was not possible to determine if the whale had died then the entire operation would have been in vain.

Au contraire, if it dies out at sea that's better than the huge clean-up operation that would have been needed to dispose of a health hazard on shore. 

The whale was last photographed swimming in the strait of Skagerrak.

And the experts are furious. 

There were also confusing reports surrounding the decision to release the whale. Kirsten Tönnies, a vet who had been on board the Fortuna B, one of two rescue ships accompanying the whale, was reportedly barred from witnessing the second and final release attempts. Tönnies said that tensions had been high between the experts on board and the ship’s crew. She said she disagreed with how the whale was released backward from the barge and with the fact she had been barred from giving the medical all-clear beforehand.

The one thing 'experts' cannot abide - that they aren't listened to. 

They Don't Seem To Have The Same Worries Over Other Procedures....

Leah Spasova, a psychologist from Oxfordshire, spent a decade fighting to obtain female sterilisation at her local trust. She was denied the procedure, which blocks or seals the fallopian tubes to prevent pregnancy, with the care board citing potential regret and costs as its reasoning.

Personal regret? When did that start to concern them? 

Now the health ombudsman has found in her favour and criticised the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board for its inconsistent approach.

The investigation found that the ICB had denied women NHS funding based on the risk of 'regret' while not applying the same a criterion to vasectomies. It concluded the policy was unfair as well as inconsistent and based on subjective reasoning.

At last, some common sense. Can we please see it expanded to other procedures?  

Paula Sussex, of the PHSO, said: 'The issue highlighted in Leah's case about the commissioning and managing of services by ICBs is not an isolated one. 'We are concerned that there may be similar wider problems affecting multiple areas of healthcare, and we have concerns that the system is not consistently meeting people's needs and is letting patients down.'

Not consistently meeting people’s needs? The could be the very strapline of the NHS!

Let's Not, After All, Because It's Too Hard...

Schools also know that enforcing such a ban is anything but straightforward. In February, research by Birmingham University found that staff at English schools with “restrictive” smartphone policies – those that require pupils to turn phones off and place them in a bag or hand devices in – spent more than 100 hours a week enforcing those rules. That’s the equivalent of a week’s working hours for three full-time members of staff. Researchers concluded that at a potential cost of £94 per pupil, enforcement was a “huge drain” on already stretched resources. The question then is, will the government increase school funding considering this reality?

This is the mad idea, beloved of authoritarian nut jobs everywhere that smartphones should be banned in school. And having suggested that, its ‘job done, trebles all round’ and onto the next idea, but it seems enforcing that is going to be quite the task. Not that that's their concern, after all.

The problem of enforcement will not magically disappear. Some teachers, too scared or tired of the disruption that will come when they ask for a pupil’s phone, will continue to “tactically ignore” the ping of WhatsApp notifications.

Well, that’s a disciplinary then, isn’t it? Punish all the teachers for the infraction of one, you know it makes sense, eh? 

A head of year working at a school with a “restrictive” smartphone policy told me of the typical reactions of pupils caught with their phones: “denial and resistance”, “verbal abuse” and “serious hostility”. They spoke of one colleague who was forced to “lock themselves in their office” when confronted by a raging student demanding the return of their phone.

Then there were the students who carried multiple phones so that when challenged by a teacher, they could offer up a decoy and appear compliant with school rules.

They've allowed the children to dictate to the adults for so long that this cannot get off the ground. And you can’t rely on the parents, who are often every bit as violent and ignorant as their spawn.

In another school, an assistant head recently told me that a parent, furious at the school’s confiscation of their child’s mobile, called the police.

And it’s all for nothing anyway: 

While schools can curb the use of phones during the day, they are powerless to enforce those boundaries beyond the school gates. Pupils compensate for their daytime sobriety with heavier phone use at home.

It is to laugh… 

Singapore Knows How To Deal With Youths In The Digital Age

A French teenager who allegedly licked a straw from an orange juice vending machine and put it back into its dispenser has been charged with committing mischief and being a public nuisance in Singapore.

Why? For Tiktok 'Likes' of course.

The company that owns the vending machine, iJooz, says it replaced all 500 straws in the machine's dispenser after the alleged incident.

And they aren't prpared to swallow that cost and laugh it off as they would in the West...

If found guilty of both charges Maximilien faces a maximum jail sentence of more than two years and thousands of dollars in fines.

I visited Singapore on holiday many years ago, and found it clean and safe like the UK used to be.

Maximilien is currently a student at the Singapore branch of the Essec Business School.

His lawyers had earlier told CNA that Maximilien's parents had flown over to Singapore and that a representative from his school would be his bailor. His case will be heard again in court on 22 May.

I hope he learned more about business than he evidently did about the culture of the country he was staying in. 

A Reminder...

...of what the local elections should have been all about, courtsey of Matt

Sunday Funnies...

 Spoilers! 

Well, At Least It’s Not The Krays…

A midnight phone call from a High Street crime gang, threatening to kill crime investigator Mandy and burn her house down, was just the start of a campaign of intimidation that would eventually force her and her husband to move home. She faced escalating threats from a Kurdish crime gang, that had been selling illegal cigarettes and nitrous oxide canisters in mini-marts across the UK.

And why do we have Kurdish organised crime in the UK? It’s a good question, isn’t it, Reader? Clearly, our own homegrown OCGs aren’t considered exotic and enriching enough…

Mandy is one of 24 Trading Standards officers who have shared details of the daily intimidation and violence they face from criminal gangs running mini-marts and vape shops, as they try to investigate unfair trading, illegal business activity and enforce consumer protection laws.

In some areas, half of all mini-marts and vape shops, and up to a third of American candy stores are thought to have links to organised crime, the survey results also suggest.

I think that’s what you call a ‘conservative estimate’! 

The UK government told us it was "working with the police, the National Crime Agency and Trading Standards to take the strongest possible action against these criminal businesses".

Oh, good, I feel much safer now the UK Government is stepping up… knowing it’s probably infiltrated by their friends.